Attacks on the First

From my Common Sense column in Lake Champlain Weekly

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If you were to learn that one person attacked another person, what would you suppose had happened? Lacking context, this may not be clear. If you read that a person was “attacked” on the streets by a group of drunks, you would probably assume physical violence. If, on the other hand, you learned that President Biden had “attacked” Senate Republicans you would be unlikely to assume that fisticuffs were involved.

This is an important distinction, and it is often blurred in the media and on university campuses, the two environments in which your columnist’s career is principally played out.

A caller to NORAD’s Santa tracking center spoke to President Biden and, during the call, said “let’s go, Brandon”. He claimed that he meant no disrespect, though the phrase is well known to mean “f*** Joe Biden”, and most definitely not in the sense of desiring sex with him, so the disrespect seems apparent.

This is decidedly disrespectful and uncivil. There are countries in the world where saying such a thing about, let alone to, your political leaders can result in imprisonment, or worse. In China, even referring to the children’s literary character, Winnie-the-Pooh, is banned, because some have compared Pooh’s appearance to Chinese President, Xi Jinping. But the US is not such a country. The caller – whom we shall not name, since he doesn’t deserve the attention – is protected by the First Amendment. So are people who call him uncivil or even declare that he is a jerk, or worse. Unless someone advocates violence against him, they can say almost anything they like about him without fear of prosecution, just as he can say anything he likes about the President.

The uncivil caller’s claim that he is being “attacked” for exercising his First Amendment rights is vague to the point of being misleading. He is being criticized and insulted by people who are exercising their own First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment doesn’t protect you from criticism; indeed it protects those who criticize you. It doesn’t insulate you from consequences. People may decide they don’t like you. If you say to a customer “go f*** yourself” instead of “have a nice day” then you are likely to be fired by your employer. Unless you work for the government, an employer can fire you for saying “let’s go, Brandon” too. That’s not an “attack” on you or your rights.

You have no right to protection from feeling offended. If someone uses a foul word in your presence or criticizes your favorite political party or religion, that’s not violence. If it were, you could you could respond with violence. If calling me a fascist was violent, I could legally respond to the insult by punching you in the face. It would be self-defense. You started the violence, after all. But calling me a fascist is not violent, so I can’t respond with violence. Criticizing your politics, church, race, or sexuality is not violence either. Saying “let’s go, Brandon” isn’t violence. Some of these things are rude, but you can’t legally punch someone or have them arrested for being rude. That’s something the First Amendment really does say.

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Quentin Langley lives in New York and teaches at Fordham University. His book, Business and the Culture of Ethics was published in September 2020

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